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Pastimes : The Naked Truth - Big Kahuna a Myth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MythMan who wrote (21252)	2/24/1999 11:36:00 AM
From: John Pitera	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86076

What do ya want bean counter stuff only -G- Why This Columnist Is in Favor of In-Process R&D Charges By Herb Greenberg Senior Columnist 2/24/99 6:30 AM ET Wimp-out Wednesday: Please don't ban in-process R&D charges: Bummed would be an understatement to explain how I felt when I read that story in yesterday's WSJ about how the Financial Accounting Standards Board may do away with writeoffs for in-process R&D, which covers technology that is in the process of being developed. Takeover writeoffs, especially in-process R&D, have helped make this column possible. (Ever hear of full employment for columnists?!) They have led to some of the wildest allegations of abuses of GAAP accounting-the kind of abuses on which this column thrives. If there were no in-process R&D writeoffs, for example, this column would never have been able to compare the "honey pot" accounting of Network Associates (NETA:Nasdaq) with the "cookie jar" accounting that the SEC has targeted. If there were no in-process R&D charges, this column wouldn't have been able to raise questions about Lernout & Hauspie (LHSPF:Nasdaq). (Okay, this column never got into that issue about Lernout, but it shoulda. Darn Kevin Petrie, the buzzard, beat me to it!) And if there had been no in-process R&D, this column would not have been able to wonder what would happen if the SEC didn't like what it saw when it reviewed the charges at merger-happy Engineering Animation (EAII:Nasdaq). The company recently told me that the charges it took were appropriate. But that didn't stop it from last week reversing more than 70% of the charges associated with two of those mergers. And, finally, if there had been no in-process R&D charges, this column would never have been able to question what would happen if the SEC second-guessed the charges taken by Compaq (CPQ:NYSE) when it acquired Digital Equipment. (Nothing happened (yet), but it's a compelling issue, no?) That's why this column will heartily endorse Silicon Valley's efforts to block the abolition of in-process R&D writeoffs. Without them, this column stands to lose some of my best material.